The Media Are Not on the Ballot

Whether Trump likes it or not, he's running against Joe Biden.

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355

Hello,

I got an email yesterday from the Trump campaign. It begins:

Friend,

President Trump isn’t running against Sleepy Joe Biden. He’s running against the Radical Left, the Deep State, the Do-Nothing Democrats, and their partner, the real opposition party, the Fake News media.

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  1. Avatar photo
    Stephen Maturin

    The way I see it is we can re-elect 45 this year, thus making him a two-term president. What usually happens when a two term president finishes his time in office? The other party wins the next election, right. The likely scenario if 45 wins this year is that in 2025 we will have someone like Elizabeth Warren, Mayor Pete, or Michael Bloomberg as our next president. The other option is that 45 loses this year, we get an inept, senile, blow-with-the breeze Biden as our president. I'm no fan of Biden, but I imagine he at least knows how to govern so 4 years of him can't be too horrible. Also, since he is so old he will probably be less electable for a second term than your typical president.

    Under this scenario the Republicans get 4 years to assess the Trump legacy and what led to it. They will hopefully do some productive soul-searching, and then have a good chance of getting an actual Republican in the White House in 2025. Otherwise we are looking at 4 more years of the shit-show that is Trump, and then an almost certainty of a Democrat president after that who will probably be more radical than the last Democrat president.

    I'm almost convincing myself that I want Trump to lose this fall.

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    Jimmy O

    Couldn't tell you why but I needed a Gunga Din reference today.

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  3. Michael Frank

    I am so using "I defecate you negatory" any chance I get.
    Kudos on a excellent piece from a member of "the media" (just a sports writer for a little paper in Ohio).

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    Bill Nelson

    Standard electoral strategy to identify an issue and tie it to an opponent. Trump could have a picture of Biden fist bumping Satan and he is still going to lose. And the Republican Party will take years to recover.

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    The Artful Curmudgeon

    To paraphrase Sarah, righteous Jonah is my favorite Jonah. Well put, sir.

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    Steven Woodward

    As a registered Republican, I get those same messages, which I delete without reading. Kudos to you, Jonah for reading it and writing such a thought provoking piece. I appreciate your consistency and I couldn't agree with you more. I dread November 2020 more than November 2016 . . . and the four years that follow regardless of who wins.

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    Susie

    I'm liking the new take-no-bullshit Jonah! It's good to be the boss.

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    Show Jay Janney the 🚪!

    My one quibble with the article is about the Press Secretary's lack of credentials. If one reads all the great journalists of the past 200 years, very few majored in journalism in college. HL Mencken (who's writing sends me to the dictionary far more than Jonah, or Bill Buckley ever did) was a HS grad. Countless others as well.

    If Rock N Roll ever requires to a BA in order to play, then I fear we're screwed.

    If her goal is to put forward the President's spin, then she seems effective at it. The fact we don't want to hear the president's spin isn't the point. That she used to oppose him simply means Trump thinks she is talented.

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    Old Dane

    I enjoyed this G-File, not because I agree with everything Jonah said, but because he touched upon a smattering of issues related to President Trump and some of his supporters that have concerned me. Nowhere else in today's media outlets can I find thought-provoking analyses like Jonah's--whichever side of the political spectrum he's critiquing--and this is main reason I subscribed to The Dispatch. Thanks, Jonah, for stirring this subscriber's mental pot once again.

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  10. Joe Mama

    You point out that McEneny does not have a background in journalism or communications to make your point that she has no business being a press secretary and "just wants to be on TV". Why is such a background necessary, Jonah, to answer questions in that rabid press room? Many "journalists", such as CNN employees, aren't there to seek information for their viewers, but to embarrass a President democrats, and you, clearly despise. (A futile effort since Trump can't be embarrassed). She has a law degree from Harvard, studied political science at Oxford, has written a book, and provided political commentary on CNN. You do not think she is smart enought to handle the job? She doesn't need this job to be on TV. Your "grotesque" comment on Fox about her answer were stunningly harsh and over the top. Grotesque is how the media behaves repeatedly in that press room. You have lost some credibility with me, perhaps you are the one who needs to be on TV for business reasons.

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